Patients may be monitored with sensors connected by cables to a hub. The hub can connect to an infrastructure of a hospital. In this way a patient can be monitored. The network of sensors around one and the same patient and used for monitoring that patient together with the hub is called a medical body area network or MBAN for short. In this network the sensors send data to the hub and the hub send the data to the infrastructure of the hospital. Monitoring vital signs is an important part of patient care as the general or particular health of the patient is determined, in part, through measurement and interpretation of key physiological indicators. Parameters of patient health include blood pressure, haemoglobin saturation, and features of electrocardiogram (ECG).
However, the utilization of physiological instrumentation to obtain those measurements at bedside also possesses burdens to clinical environment. The presence of cables, catheters, and tubing connecting the patient and sensors to the instrumentation can diminish productivity and the quality of patient care. For example, rotating a patient to alleviate bedsores or ambulating about the room can be problematic if one is saddled with tethered devices. Procedural delays stemming from cable management also contribute to a greater percentage of time dedicated to routine, mundane tasks not directly related to treatment of the patient's illness.
Using a wireless MBAN is problematic because the sensors are not physically connected to each other or the hub, for example, it is difficult to know what devices are part of the wireless MBAN. With wireless applications the communication can be carried out without a physical connection and, for example, patients can be moved or care procedures can be done. A wireless system is typically constructed in a way that each body worn sensor communicates via a short range and low energy, medical body area network (MBAN) radio to the patient monitor or hub. At the same time, problems of connection reliability and compromised security to alarm critical conditions of the patient appear.
MBAN radio is a short range communication method with a typically range of up to 5 meters. This is enough when the patient is in bed and the host monitor or patient hub is located near the bed. However, it is possible that mobile patients can move out of the MBAN radio range while the personal hub device or patient monitor stays by the bed. In case a critical condition appears during the time the patient is out of the MBAN radio range, it may be crucial for the well-being of the patient that the alarms still appear on the bed-side monitor/hub.
The present MBAN requires each sensor of the MBAN to be connected to the hub. It is a problem to ensure such a connection. It is further a problem to manage an MBAN to ensure the well-being of the patient. It is a problem to optimise communication within a wireless MBAN and/or from the wireless MBAN to a second network. It is a problem to optimise power management of wireless devices of a wireless MBAN. It is a problem to find economically and technically adequate solutions.